


A New Tradition For You

by mikkimouse



Series: Tumblr Fics [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M, background Scott/Kira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-06 22:45:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3151076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles invites Derek to spend Christmas with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Tradition For You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Written for the [2014 Sterek Secret Santa](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/) for [scottysbody.](http://scottysbody.tumblr.com)
> 
> Originally posted to Tumblr [here](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/106122426293/merry-christmas-claustoagunfight).

"So what are you doing for Christmas?" Stiles asked over Skype. 

Considering Stiles had just finished a five-minute rant about going to the grocery store to pick up Halloween candy only to find an aisle full of Christmas decorations, Derek thought he could be forgiven for staring at him like he'd lost his mind. "What?" 

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Stiles repeated as he played with a plastic Slinky. 

Derek shrugged. In all honesty, he hadn't celebrated Christmas since... well, since before. "Nothing, probably."

Stiles flailed, sending the Slinky flying over his head to land on his dorm bed. "Nothing? Seriously?" 

Derek shrugged again, at a loss for anything else. "Not much reason to, you know?" 

Stiles's surprise faded to something more like understanding, a quick flash of it before he grabbed something else to mess with on his desk. "Would you want to?"

Derek frowned. "Would I want to what? Celebrate?" 

Stiles nodded, gnawing a little on his bottom lip. "Yeah. I mean, I totally understand if you don't, I really do, but at the same time, you know, me and Dad and Scott and Melissa usually do Christmas together, and they don't have to work this year, so if you wanted..." 

He didn't finish the sentence, so it took Derek a few beats to figure out what he'd meant. "You want me to spend Christmas with you?" 

"If you want," Stiles said in a rush. "It could be fun?"

Derek felt suddenly uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure why. "Do you think they'd mind?" 

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Dude, they all love you, you know that. You're totally welcome."

Derek wasn't sure what to say, but Stiles looked so damn hopeful it was difficult to say anything other than "Okay. Yeah, sounds like fun." 

Stiles grinned. "Cool. Hey, I'm coming home in two weeks. Want to catch a movie?"

***

It was easy to put the conversation away and not think about it. In fact, Derek didn't think about it at all until the first weekend of December, when Stiles showed up at the loft with two steaming cups of coffee and a sack of pastries. 

Derek blinked uncomprehendingly. He'd known Stiles was going to be back in Beacon Hills for the weekend, but hadn't actually expected to see him any time before noon. "It's nine in the morning."

"That it is, and it is fucking cold out there." Stiles held out the coffee. "But it's the first weekend of December, which means the Christmas tree farm's open, which means if we want a decent tree, we need to go now." 

"Christmas tree," Derek echoed, even though he'd been awake for two hours and _surely_ that was enough to understand what Stiles was saying. "You want to go get a Christmas tree." 

"Yes!" Stiles bounced a little. "Look, my dad's working a double today, and I'm supposed to go get the tree, and I need a second opinion, okay? And who knows, maybe we can find a little Charlie Brown tree for you too. Something to brighten up the place and hide that hole in the wall." 

"I fixed that hole two years ago," Derek reminded him. 

"Yes, and it _totally_ doesn't look like an axe murderer still lives here." Stiles wiggled the coffee cup in front of him. "So are you coming or what?"

Derek sighed and took the coffee. "Let me get my coat."

***

Half an hour later, they pulled into the Christmas tree farm east of Beacon Hills. It was cold and the sky hung heavy with grey clouds, and the air smelled like winter's chill and fresh pine trees. 

Derek zipped up his leather jacket and ambled behind Stiles, who was practically skipping into the farm. 

"For you, we're looking for a big tree," Stiles said. "A huge one. And then for my house, something that's only about six feet tall because Dad'll kill me if we have to cut the top off again." 

Derek rolled his eyes, but he could feel the fond smile tugging at his lips. Apparently Stiles saw it too, because he grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Come on." Stiles jerked his head toward the farm. "Let's find ourselves a Christmas tree." 

Derek followed him through the trees, not examining too closely how much he liked it when Stiles crashed into his life and dragged him off like this. 

He picked out a few trees, but Stiles vetoed every single one of them ("Not fluffy enough." "Not wide enough." "Not tall enough." "Not green enough.").

"Not _green_ enough?" Derek repeated, incredulous. "Are you actually serious right now? It's a _tree_."

"It's a _Christmas_ tree," Stiles snapped. "It has to be the perfect color green." 

Derek buried his face in his hands. "Oh my God. Do I need to get out an RBG color book or something?" 

Stiles's eyes lit up. "Oh, hey, that'd be perfect. Do you have one?" 

" _Stiles_." 

"What? You offered!" 

It took nearly two hours of wandering through row after row of pine trees before they found two trees Stiles deemed "perfect." Of course, once they'd gotten the trees loaded on top of the Jeep, Stiles begged until Derek went _back_ into the farm for hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, and popcorn balls. 

"This is not lunch," Derek said around a mouthful of a cookie shaped like Santa's hat. 

"No, this is a treat _well-earned_." Stiles took a sip of his hot chocolate and flashed his whipped cream mustache at Derek. "Besides, don't act like you don't have the biggest sweet tooth on the planet. I've seen your chocolate stash." 

Derek made a face and drank his hot chocolate. It was good, but it needed more marshmallows. 

"Do you need help decorating the tree?" Stiles asked. 

Derek froze. He hadn't thought about that. "Um, I don't... I don't think I actually have anything." 

"Don't worry," Stiles said. "I can help you out."

***

Later that night, Derek opened his front door to see Stiles with two cardboard boxes in his arms and two pizzas precariously stacked on top of them. Derek grabbed the top box and the pizzas before they all ended up on the new hardwood floor of the loft. 

Also because he smelled sausage and mushroom, and he fucking _loved_ sausage and mushroom. 

"What's this?" he asked. 

"Pizza." 

Derek gave Stiles a flat look, and Stiles grinned. "Okay, pizza and ornaments. We have, like, eighty million ornaments around the house. We only put about a third of them on the tree every year, so I figured," he juggled the box he still held, "I could loan out the ones we didn't use." 

"Why do you have so many ornaments?" 

Stiles's grin faded to a sad smile. "It was my mom's favorite holiday." 

"Oh." Derek wanted to take the question back, but Stiles was already moving into the living room. He dropped his box next to the coffee table and eyed the tree, where Derek had put it in front of the wall of windows. 

"Good tree positioning," Stiles said. "Once we get this puppy decorated, everybody will be able to see it. It'll be awesome. You'll be bringing Christmas cheer to all of Beacon Hills." 

Derek set his box beside Stiles's and the pizza on top of the coffee table. "Good for me. Did you already decorate your tree?" 

"Nah." Stiles shook his head. "We'll do it when Dad's off work tomorrow. You want to come over and help?" 

"If you want me to," Derek said, a little uncertainly. "I don't want to intrude." 

"You wouldn't be." 

He sounded so sure. It made something flip over inside Derek. "All right. Yeah. Just let me know what time." 

Stiles beamed like the goddamn sun, and whipped open a box of ornaments and a box of pizza. "Now commencing Operation: O Tannenbaum."

***

It continued like that, as the days in December fell away toward Christmas. Derek showed up to help decorate the Stilinskis' Christmas tree with three coffees and a bag of bagels from the bakery downtown, and ended up spending most of the day with Stiles and the sheriff. 

By the next weekend, Stiles was back in Beacon Hills for winter break and he grabbed Derek to go Christmas shopping. It took Derek five minutes to convince Stiles it wasn't worth it to wait in the gigantic line to get a picture with Santa, but Stiles made them sneak a selfie with one of the elves on break.

The weekend after that, they went with Scott and Kira to look at the lights in the historical village on the east side of the Preserve. It didn't take long for Scott and Kira to wander off, leaving Derek and Stiles alone to explore. On impulse, Derek bought them cider and kettle corn from one of the vendors, and Stiles's smile when Derek handed him a cup did more to warm him than the cider did.

It was nice. It was nice to spend time together that wasn't punctuated by bad things happening, by blood and screaming and tears and pain. More often than not, Derek found himself wanting to reach out to Stiles, thread their fingers together while they were walking, squeeze him a little closer when Stiles rubbed his arms like he was cold. But each time, Derek held himself back. They were just friends, and he didn't want to risk that. It was too important.

Besides, it was the most fun he'd had during the Christmas season in a long time.

***

On Christmas Eve, the sheriff and Melissa were both working—Melissa until midnight, and the sheriff until 6 a.m.—and Scott and Stiles were having "Bro-Mas," whatever the hell _that_ was. 

Stiles had invited him, but Derek had declined, repeatedly informing Stiles that _no_ , he wasn't going to brood in the Batcave, he was just going to read a book and get some sleep. 

Around midnight, he got a text from Stiles. 

_> Don't forget! Brunch tomorrow @ 11 @ our place. _

__Derek smiled and texted back.

_< Don't worry. I'll be there._

_> You'd better. I'll come drag your wolfy ass out of bed if I have to._

_> You'd also better not be brooding._  
  
Derek took a picture of his book and his cup of hot chocolate and sent it with the next text. 

_< Not brooding. Reading, like I said._

_< Have fun with Scott and I'll see you in the morning. _

_> Merry Christmas, Derek._

_< Merry Christmas, Stiles.  
_

***

Derek showed up at the Stilinski house by 10:30 on Christmas morning, a sack of presents dangling from one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other (Melissa's request). He hadn't even knocked on the door when it swung open, revealing a barefoot Stiles, wearing pajama pants and the ugliest Christmas sweater Derek had ever seen. 

"What bet did you lose?" Derek asked. 

Stiles stuck out his tongue. "Merry Christmas to you too, _asshole_. This is a fucking awesome gift from Mrs. McCall." 

Derek took a stab in the dark. "She get them for you every year?" 

"Ever since Scott and I were six. We wear them all Christmas Day. Best tradition." Stiles stepped aside. "Now come on in and be quiet. Dad's asleep and I think he'll shoot the person who wakes him up before food's ready."

Derek quietly followed Stiles into the house, setting the presents next to the massive pile already under the tree and then heading into the kitchen to stick the champagne in the fridge. Melissa was already there, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl and wearing her own ugly sweater.

"Making omelets?" Derek asked. 

Melissa shook her head. "My special Christmas Day breakfast casserole." She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. "Merry Christmas, Derek." 

Her welcome settled something in him, and Derek felt his own smile spread in return. "Merry Christmas." 

"Oh! Stiles." Melissa waved an eggshell at him before tossing it into the trash. "Go get Derek the gift from under the tree."

"Gift?" Stiles's brow furrowed. "What—oh yeah!" 

Derek raised an eyebrow at Melissa, but she didn't answer the unasked question. 

Stiles returned and shoved a festive box into his hands. "First present of the day." 

"Oh?" was all Derek managed. 

With both Melissa and Stiles looking expectantly on, Derek couldn't do anything else but open the gift. Inside was a Christmas sweater so horrific it made Stiles's look bland. He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or sweep Melissa into a hug and pretend he didn't have a lump in his throat. 

"You have to put it on!" Stiles said gleefully.

Derek changed right there in the kitchen without a word of protest and spread his arms. "How does it look?"

Stiles bit his fist like he was trying not to laugh out loud. "Great," he choked out. 

Melissa _did_ laugh. "Now you're suitably dressed for the Stilinski-McCall Christmas brunch." 

"So where's Scott?" Derek asked, before he did something ridiculous over a freaking _sweater_. 

"Had an errand to run," Stiles said. "He should be back—"

As if on cue, the front door opened, and Stiles's eyes flicked back over Derek's shoulder, and his scent spiked suddenly with anxiety and anticipation. 

Derek frowned. "Why are you—"

"Merry Christmas!" Scott swung into the kitchen and, to Derek's surprise, gave him a huge hug. "Glad you could join us!" 

"Yeah, I—" Derek started to say, and then stopped when he smelled... but no. _How?_

He looked up to see who'd come in behind Scott, and couldn't believe his eyes. "Cora?" 

Sure enough, that was his sister standing in the entrance of the Stilinski kitchen, her eyes sparkling. Cora laughed and practically threw herself at him, elbowing Scott out of the way. "Merry Christmas, big brother."

Derek hugged her hard, burying his nose in her hair to smell the familiar scent of _sister_ under the staleness of airports and travel. "What are you doing here?" 

Cora pulled back and pecked his cheek. "Stiles was insistent I come for Christmas." 

She shot a look over Derek's shoulder, and he turned to see Stiles looking everywhere but them. 

Cora patted Derek's arm and winked. "I can't _imagine_ why he was so determined."

Stiles's face went bright red and he spun to head toward the living room. "Oh, look at that, it's time for brunch! I'll go get Dad." 

Derek followed Stiles and grabbed his arm. "You got Cora here," he said, because he was still having trouble processing the idea. "For Christmas." _For me._

"Well, yeah, big guy." Stiles gave him a soft smile. "Thought it'd be nice, you know? And I spent most of my money helping her with a plane ticket, so remember that when you open your gift."

Derek wanted to hug him, wanted to kiss him, wanted to do _something_ to show how much all this meant, because _thank you_ wasn't nearly enough. Instead, he just let go of Stiles's arm and stepped back. "I'll keep that in mind."

***

Several hours later, Derek settled onto the couch after he and Stiles had finished cleaning up, all the lights off except for the Christmas tree and the electric heater with the fake fire flickering in it. He watched out the back window, where snowflakes fell lazily, dancing in the night. 

Cora was upstairs in the Stilinski guest room, already sound asleep. Scott, Melissa, and Kira—who'd come over after noon to exchange presents—had left about an hour before, and Sheriff Stilinski had gone on to bed himself. Derek supposed he ought to wake Cora and head back to the loft, but Stiles had insisted he didn't have to leave.

"Just stay a little longer," he'd said. "I'll make you some hot chocolate. As thanks for helping clean up."

Now Stiles was walking into the living room with two mugs stuffed so full of marshmallows Derek would be surprised if any hot chocolate had managed to get in there at all. 

Stiles sat on the couch beside him and handed over one of the mugs. Derek raised it to his lips and ducked his head to hide the smile, hide the bloom of happiness and contentment he was positive Stiles could see, even if he couldn't smell it. 

"Aw yeah." Stiles kicked up his feet on the coffee table and raised his own mug. "Best Christmas in a long time, I think. Was it good for you?" 

Derek wouldn't have missed the double entendre even without Stiles punctuating it by waggling his eyebrows. He shoved Stiles's shoulder with his free hand. "Yeah. It was a good Christmas." He dipped his head back to his mug, inhaling the sweet smell of chocolate. "Thanks. For getting Cora here. It was..." 

_It was everything_ , Derek wanted to say, but he just couldn't get the words out. 

Stiles smiled, not his big grin or the slightly creepy smile he used when he was about to terrify the shit out of someone, but a small, true smile that Derek had only seen a handful of times. "You're welcome, big guy. I'm glad you liked your surprise." 

"I loved it," Derek said, and then he grabbed Stiles's free hand, threaded their fingers together and squeezed, sucked in his courage and met Stiles's eyes. "Thank you," he said again, putting as much earnestness and honesty in his voice as he could. "For everything." 

Stiles just stared at him, eyes wide and lips slightly parted in surprise, for a long time. The silence stretched between them, long enough for panic to uncoil in Derek's gut because he'd messed up, he'd messed it up—

And then Stiles set his mug on the coffee table, leaned over, and kissed him.

For a split second, Derek froze, torn between wanting to drag Stiles to him and not wanting to spill his hot chocolate all over the couch. He let go of Stiles's hand to grab his elbow and hold him there, so he could kiss back. Stiles tasted like hot chocolate and marshmallows and champagne, sweet and sharp and so absolutely fucking perfect that Derek could cry. 

Stiles pecked him on the cheek and pulled away just long enough to grab his mug off the coffee table, and then he cuddled up right next to Derek's side. Derek dropped his arm across Stiles's shoulders, holding him close. 

"Okay, _now_ this is the best Christmas," Stiles said. 

Derek turned so he could press his face into Stiles's hair, before resting his cheek there to watch the lights of the Christmas tree and the snow falling outside. 

"Best Christmas ever," he agreed.


End file.
